Palace dramas are the new OTT soaps. Real royals are just embarrassed

The Print

2 days ago

'The irresponsible prince spending his time womanising and partying; Palaces crumbling while the family is given to personal extravagance; Women spending their time draped in jewels waiting to be rescued by the men – these tropes have existed for 200 years,' said Tripurdaman Singh, senior research fellow at the Geneva Graduate Institute, who is currently working on a project exploring decolonisation in India's princely states . It's a classic case of the emperor being outfitted with new clothes.
The big-budget shows on modern-day aristocrats were released within 10 days of each other. They are riding the wave of popularity drummed up by shows such as Downton Abbey (2010) and The Crown (2016). But their voyeuristic take on the rich and fabulous lives of dethroned kings and queens and their heirs is missing the mark. Instead of offering viewers something new, they are reinforcing stereotypes.
New Delhi: A cash-strapped prince with a penchant for removing his shirt and an ambitious CEO flit and flirt in Netflix's new rom-com, The Royals. At the same time, three millennial scions are mired in intrigue, murder and drugs in Jio Hotstar's Kull: The Legacy of the Raisingghs. Both are lopsided, lampoonish, and ludicrous.
After overdosing on the Mirzapur template of gritty, saucy small-town dramas, the next frontier for streaming platforms is extravagance. With the wildly successful The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives (2020), the other island of decadence and excess is royal families. India's royal stories are more muted, especially compared to the reservoir dogs' climactic drama of Nepal's palace murders, but it has unlimited soap opportunities too.
Netflix has dropped details of Season 2 of The Royals, while producer Pranjal Khandhdiya is developing a web series on the life of the late Maharani Gayatri Devi. On bookshelves, a surge of both fiction and non-fiction is capturing royal intrigue—from historian Anoushka Jain's highly-anticipated Badass Begums to British author Tasha Suri's romantasy, The Jasmine Throne.
The appetite for palace drama, whether on screen or in print, is only growing.
Aviraaj Singh (Ishaan Khatter) in The Royals has the urge to disrobe at the drop of a hat—whether he's dancing in his room or astride a horse while playing polo.
Indians absolutely have an appetite for palace plots. Just look at our soap operas. Palace plots are nothing but that, on a larger scale–with chiffons, pearls, and history thrown in. But unfortunately, unlike Downton Abbey or The Crown, political and social context is almost entirely absent in shows like The Royals–which seems like an extended Instagram reel rather than well-crafted television – Tripurdaman Singh, historian
At the other end of the spectrum, Raisinggh prince Abhimanyu (Amol Parashar) is more likely to be snorting cocaine in his room. Not too long ago, there was that Fawad Khan-Sonam Kapoor movie Khoobsurat (2014) – an embarrassment of royal proportions that left the real-life maharanis and maharajas of India's erstwhile princely states gobsmacked.
'This is not how we live,' said Brijeshwari Kumari Gohil, daughter of the titular Maharaja of Bhavnagar, Vijayraj Singh Gohil. 'I cannot imagine or know anyone who would play polo shirtless. It is not fictionalisation, but a caricature and simply ridiculous,' she said.
It's a missed opportunity. According to Ormax Media estimates, Kull and The Royals garnered 3.1 million and 2.5 million views, respectively, on just the first weekend of their release. The two web series have also made it clear that, when it comes to the representation of Indian royals, makers often fall back into the comfort zone of exhausted stereotypes.
'Indians absolutely have an appetite for palace plots. Just look at our soap operas. Palace plots are nothing but that, on a larger scale–with chiffons, pearls, and history thrown in. But unfortunately, unlike Downton Abbey or The Crown, political and social context is almost entirely absent in shows like The Royals–which seems like an extended Instagram reel rather than well-crafted television,' said Tripurdaman Singh.
Kull vs The Royals
Netflix's PR machinery was quick to compare The Royals with its hugely popular show Bridgerton (2020), an alternative rom-com set in the United Kingdom's Regency period from 1795 to 1837. But Bridgerton is rich in its storytelling as well.
The Royals focuses on the relationship between Maharaja Aviraaj Singh of Morpur and Mumbai-based startup CEO Sophia Kanmani Shekhar. The royal family lives in Motibagh Palace in Rajasthan, which has seen better days, and wants to climb out of debt. Enter Sophia, a CEO who wants to convert the palace into a 'Royal B&B'. But the push and pull between Sophia with Aviraaj is tedious.
'Think of it as a Barbara Cartland novel rewritten by a social media intern who just discovered the word 'situationship',' wrote senior film critic Saibal Chatterjee in his review of the web series.
Audiences, too, have shared their verdict through edits, videos, and reviews of the highly publicised show. Everything in it has been scrutinised and found wanting – from Khatter's endless shirtless scenes to Pednekar's acting and the limited screen time allotted to the legendary Zeenat Aman, who plays Aviraaj's grandmother.
'To me, the most problematic aspect of The Royals was showing them as young people latching on to the past,' said Anshu Khanna, founder of Royal Fables, a platform that promotes the art, heritage, and lifestyle of Indian royalty through exhibitions. 'To begin with, a bit of homework and research, a more honest portrayal, and less flamboyant costumes would have helped.'
This is not how we live…I cannot imagine or know anyone who would play polo shirtless. It is not fictionalisation, but a caricature and simply ridiculous —Brijeshwari Kumari Gohil, daughter of the titular Maharaja of Bhavnagar
Despite mostly poor reviews, the show climbed to the number one spot on Netflix's list of most-watched non-English shows.
Stories of modern royalty have been explored in films such as Shyam Benegal's Zubeidaa (2001), Shashanka Ghosh's Khoobsurat, and Sooraj Barjatya's Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015). OTT shows such as The Empire (2021) and Taj: Divided by Blood (2023) focused on reinterpretations of Mughal history. And until The Royals and Kull, streaming platforms have, for the most part, limited themselves to documentaries or fictionalised interpretations of historical events.
If The Royals is light and breezy, then Kull is its dark but equally flawed counterpart. Co-created by Ekta Kapoor and directed by Sahir Raza, Kull veers into soap opera territory. Scandals and secrets unravel within the tall, gilded walls of a palace in the fictional town of Bilkaner, as a power struggle brews between three royal siblings: Indrani (Nimrat Kaur), Abhimanyu (Amol Parashar), and Kavya (Riddhi Dogra).
''Kull can be compared to Shakespearean dramas that are dark, gritty, suspenseful, and tragic with a touch of melodramatic soap operas,' wrote Prachi Arya in her review of the series.
Everything in the show seems to have been inspired by Game of Thrones (2011) – from the haunting theme song to the death of a king in the beginning.
Kavya is a young entrepreneur who has a major stake in her father's hotel business. She is shown dressed in crisp formals, brokering deals about a show about her illustrious family. With streaks of blue in her hair, she is portrayed as the embodiment of a 'modern royal'.
Her brother Abhimanyu is a drug addict and spendthrift who relies on his older sister Indrani – married to a politician's gay son – to bail him out.
Both shows have opulence, lavender weddings, and sibling rivalry – and are set in Rajasthan.
'It is as if royalty does not exist anywhere outside North India. Isn't it tiring to just show Rajasthan over and over again?' asked Khanna.
There are, however, logistical reasons for choosing Rajasthan—throw a stone and you'll hit a heritage haveli or a palace hotel.
'I think a reason why Rajasthan becomes the location of choice is because the permissions are easier. Most of the palaces in the state also have very strong Instagram hooks, because creators keep going there. Sometimes, it's simply the budget,' said a member of Kull's creative team who did not wish to be named.
Also read: Is the golden age of OTT over? Censorship, stars, and the shift to 'safe' content
What real royals do
There's a scene in The Royals when the dowager, the queen, and the princess proudly declare that they don't work. That's not entirely true in real life. The scions of some erstwhile royal houses do lead lavish lives, but they're running businesses, becoming actors and models, or have become prominent politicians.
Brijeshwari Kumari Gohil was born and raised in Mumbai, has a bachelor's degree in archaeology and art history from the University of Nottingham, and a master's degree in heritage management and conservation from Durham University. Now, she has dedicated her life to preserving the art, architecture, and cultural history of her ancestral hometown in Bhavnagar.
Akshita M Bhanj Deo from the royal family of Mayurbhanj in Odisha is an entrepreneur, communication strategist, and the editor-in-chief of a lifestyle magazine.
'I'm not hosting a durbar—I am visiting boardrooms,' she said in a 2021 interview.
Urvashi Singh of Khimsar, Rajasthan, is a publisher, hotelier and entrepreneur. And modern-day princess Padmaja Kumari Parmar from the Mewar dynasty, which traces its ancestry back to 730 AD, is the executive director of Business Development for the HRH Group of Hotels, a philanthropist, and the global ambassador for Breakthrough T1D.
Radhikaraje Gaekwad, the titular Maharani of Baroda, shared a lengthy post on Instagram on 29 May with the caption, 'What watching The Royals elicited in me'. She wrote about the challenges faced by Indian royals, from the dissolution of monarchy to the abolishment of privy purses. 'The 'real' royals, meanwhile, have rolled up their sleeves and are running India's best-known music festivals, museums, hotels, even constituencies and states–an impressive number being the ladies of the house–Gwalior, Jaipur, Bikaner and Kotah to name a few. Ouch to purdah and patriarchy!' wrote Gaekwad.
After Independence, India's royal houses traded their palaces for politics—from the Scindias of Gwalior to Karan Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. That legacy continues even today with Dushyant Singh (Scindia-Shinde lineage), Vishvendra Singh (the titular Maharaja of Bharatpur), Diya Kumari (the granddaughter of Man Singh II, the last ruling Maharaja of Jaipur) and the newly elected Yaduveer Wadiyar of Mysore.
However, the prominence of these royal figures and their work in the public domain has not necessarily translated into well-researched shows or films.
Khatter's role in The Royals is seen as a reference to Padmanabh Singh, head of the former royal family of Jaipur. Lovingly called 'Pacho', the maharaja has been modelling since he was 17, walking the ramp for Dolce and Gabbana, U.S Polo Association, and other big brands. Like the character of Aviraaj – who is alternatively called 'Fizzy' in the series – he studied at New York University and plays polo, though not shirtless. His Instagram account, with half a million followers, documents his modern life.
'Royal families stay relevant through social media, but there also needs to be actual work being done to have that relevance for posterity. It is not enough to say, 'We are royals',' said Gohil.
Not every social media royal narrative is necessarily true.
'Young royals, if one can call them that, have taken to social media to become visible and recognisable in the public eye. This is particularly so because they have easy access to props that help produce Instagram-worthy content: fairy-tale palaces, vintage cars, fabulous jewels, priceless objets decoratifs, etc,' said Tripurdaman Singh. But even their edited, perfect lives on Instagram are more authentic than the shows based on them.
Also Read: Panchayat to Laapataa—villages on OTT are Gandhian simplicity or Ambedkar's den of ignorance
'Talk to us for spicy stories'
There's another big regal project underway. But producer Pranjal Khandhdiya, the force behind biopics such as Soorma (2018) and Super 30 (2019), is not looking to reinterpret India's millennial royals. He's working on a web series on the life and legacy of 'Rajmata' Gayatri Devi, the third maharani consort of Jaipur, and a Lok Sabha MP.
'Some stories are best told without the classic tropes of a Bollywood film. The story is not her biography – it is through her that we see a royal point of view of history, which spans over 90 years. We know the British version, but it is time to actually get inside the royal lives,' said Khandhdiya.
The web series is currently under pre-production, with extensive time dedicated to researching the finer details of the celebrated queen's life.
'Combined with the richness and grandeur of royalty, it's a visual spectacle to recreate the era which could give The Great Gatsby a run for its money,' added Khandhdiya.
The producer, however, acknowledged the challenges of creating a show around a more recent historical period, which, for him, involved extensive meetings with historians, royal family members, and government officials.
For now, royals are waiting to be part of the storyboarding and research for shows and films supposed to be based on them.
'If they come to talk to us, we could give them a lot of spicy stories and dramas. It would help to have some variation in that, too,' said Gohil.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)